The last couple of years and also before, Denmark has been known as the country which has been titled the happiest in the world. There are many different explanations why, and one of the more intangible reasons are how Danes are able to create and value 'hygge'. It is difficult to explain exactly what the word means, but some words to explain it could be coziness, fun, comfortness, enjoyment and socialization. The use of this term is also very noticeable in the Danes food culture. A culture which will be explain in the following sections.
Denmark is located in the northern Europe in Scandinavia. The country has a population of approx. 5.584.758 millions citizens, of which 126,4 individuals can be found per square kilometres. Amongst these citizens you can find the danish royal family, which belongs to one of the oldest monarchies in the world. However, it is not Queen Margarethe II who rules the country, but instead the danish government which consists of a coalition of The Social Democrats, The Social Liberals and The Socialist People's Party, who overall believes in equality for all human beings. Denmark is not yet to be titled as a multicultural society, since the country consists of 4.996.980 Danes and 567.932 immigrants. The religions in the country is represented by 90 % protestant, and others are Islam, Catholics and Judaism.
Food in Denmark
The last couple of decades Denmark has in many ways been influenced by other countries such as America, Italy, France etc. This also concerns the Dane's food culture. However, there are still some food traditions in the country that are strongly incorporated in the culture and therefore haven't disappeared yet.
Breakfast
The Danes, like many others, drink coffee and tea and eat a piece of bread with topping. This can both be wheat bread, but also rye bread which is especially popular amongst the Danes. Rye bread is actually so incorporated in a Dane's culture and mind that this is the first thing that a Dane is missing, when he or she is on vacation. It is also one of the main ingredients for another unique Danish breakfast - junket crumble (ymerdrys). The ingredients in junket crumble is grated rye bread and brown sugar. This is used to put on your junket, and is especially good if you are looking for a lighter breakfast. This fascination of eating rye bread or using it as an ingredient has been with the Danes for many centuries. An example is the Danish 'Oellebroed', which is made of rye bread, sugar and non-alcoholic beer. Unfortunately 'Oellebroed' is no longer one of the main dishes in Denmark, but it has actually been a common dish since the middle-age. Another thing to have during breakfast, which has become popular more recently, is wheat buns. These are either from the supermarket or homemade, and are most commonly eaten in the weekends or at celebrations like birthdays with different toppings. Most recently the Danes has embraced the American brunch, but this is most enjoyed in restaurants and not at home. To sum up there has been some different traditions within breakfast in Denmark, but rye bread stays and lies deep in the Danes' mind about what they should eat. Rye bread
Lunch
Different from breakfast and dinner, which is eaten at home, lunch is enjoyed by Danes elsewhere. Today Danes most often make their lunch themselves before going to work, but it is also seen that Danes eat in the canteen at their work where there are many things to choose from. Homemade lunch is best known as cold dishes and simple, and here rye bread again plays a big role. When Danes make lunch themselves it would most commonly consist of slices of rye bread with toppings such as sausages, egg or the popular liver paste. Liver paste is a mixture of pig-liver, lard and salt and pepper, which is baked and can be enjoyed on rye bread with sliced cucumbers or pickled beetroots. Homemade lunch for work
In the weekends a similar dish for lunch is popular, but the difference is that this dish is more expanded. The dish is a traditional Danish open sandwich ('smørrebrød'), which most often includes rye bread but in some cases also wheat bread. Danes go to restaurants, when they want really good open sandwiches, and there they have the possibility to choose from multiple toppings for their open sandwiches. Examples of a traditional Danish open sandwich varies from winter to summer. During winter it is very popular to eat warm meet on your open rye bread sandwich, e.g. Danish meatballs which are a mixture of calf and pork or pork roast with crackling and red cabbage. During the summer it is more popular to eat fish on your open sandwich. This could e.g. be an open sandwich with wheat bread, salmon, salad, lemon, mayonnaise and prawns. Tradtional Danish open sandwich (Smørrebrød)
A newest approach to 'Smørrebrød' is smushi. This is a concept that connects the idea of sushi and the traditional Danish open sandwich. Thereby Danish open sandwiches, become renewed and are now more modern. Smushi - a modern approach to 'Smørrebrød'
Dinner
The Danes' dinner has very much been influenced by other countries, but also by the changes in the society the last century. Before the 1960's dinner was something that was important, it was the meal that gathered the family after a long working day and therefore a lot of energy was used on this meal. This was possible since most women didn't work, and therefore had time to prepare a nice meal. Dinner before was therefore often two courses. This could e.g. be soup as a starter and afterwards meat, potatoes, boiled vegetables and gravy. During weekends it could even be three, since dessert was included as well. The most common meat to eat in Denmark was pork, since there was a lot of pig farms in Denmark and this therefore was easy to get. Today dinner is more simple, which means that most Danes only eat one course both in the working days and in the weekends. However, it is very common that you eat nicer food in the weekends and enjoy a good movie with candy afterwards. Furthermore our food traditions has changed, since we embraced the American food culture in the 1960s, the Italian food culture in the 1980s and the Asiatic food culture in the 1990s. This means that the Danes are eating many different dishes today, and do not have a real Danish food culture regarding dinner as they do with lunch. However, today pork is still the most common meat that is eaten in Denmark, and traditional potato and gravy dishes are also still very common as sides for your meat. The most typical danish dishes would be pork roast with crackling or danish meatballs with white boiled potatoes, red cabbage and gravy. Today danes value dinner very much as a time in the day, where the family can be gathered and you talk with each other to hear how their day has been. It is therefore also not common for families to sit in front of the TV when they are eating. The core elements of danish dinner are thereby that dinner is social and cozy, the word that the danes translate to 'hyggeligt'.
Typical Danish dinner: pork roast with potatoes, red cabbage and gravy
Street foods
Of course fast-food is popular in Denmark as in other countries, and the most known fast-food places are McDonald's, KFC, Burger Kind and Sunset Boulevard. However, something that is really popular in Denmark and which can only be found on the streets are the trailers that sell a delicious variety of hot dogs. They can be found all over Denmark and often several places in the cities although there are many competitors. The most popular hot dog is 'a toasted hot dog with everything', ie. a fried or boiled pork sausage, a toasted open bread, ketchup, remoulade, mustard, pickles and roasted onions. Next is the french hot dog, i.e. a fried pork sausage in a more closed bread and a chosen sauce e.g. ketchup, mustard, remoulade or the popular french hot dog sauce. This kind of food is both enjoyed during the day and after a night out.
Left: A french hot dog, Middle: A typical hot dog stand, Right: A toasted hot dog with everything
Regional influences
The Danish food culture has not had many regional influences. However, before there was a difference in the country from the Danes living in the cities to the Danes living in the countryside. This was to eat warm dishes for lunch and cold dishes for dinner. That is also why dinner is danish is called middag. This word means midday, and was used since warm meals used to be eaten in the middle of the day. However, today the way of doing things in the cities has influenced the individuals from the countryside, and therefore it is more common to eat cold meals for lunch and warm meals for dinner. Lastly it is worth mentioning that the danish food culture has been influenced by that Denmark was previously an agricultural country. Today Denmark is an industrial country.
Festivities
Christmas
The Danish christmas traditions regarding food can vary from Dane to Dane, and Danes might not eat it on the same dates. However, the tradition for all Danes is that you both celebrate christmas before, during and after christmas eve. To be more exact, Danes celebrate little christmas eve the 23 December. This is not common for every dane, but the ones that do have a tradition of eating rice gruel with cinnamon sugar and butter. This is supposedly what Santa is eating, and therefore it is also normal to leave a plate for Santa outside your door for when he comes with the presents. Furthermore it is very practical to eat rice gruel on the 23 december, because it is used for the dessert on christmas eve. A big portion is therefore always made. Christmas eve is on the 24 december. This night is the most important one, and this is where Danes eat the danish christmas dinner, dance around the decorated christmas tree and open their presents. The traditional christmas dinner is roast pork, boiled potatoes, sweet potatoes, red cabbage and gravy, but now roast duck or goose are also popular. For dessert the Danes eat the classic 'Ris à l'amande', which is cold rice gruel, whipped cream, vanilla, chopped almonds and hot cherry sauce. A game belongs to this dish. That is that you hide one whole almond in the dessert, and the one that gets this also gets a present. Christmas lunches are very popular in Denmark, and these can both occur before and after christmas eve. This event includes a great table with food from one end to the other. During a christmas lunch you can find everything from fish to warm dishes to desserts. One person can attend several christmas lunches in November, December and January. It is a way to extend christmas and to wish a merry christmas to your friends, colleagues and family. Another dish which is really popular to eat during December is the Danish doughnuts (æbleskiver). Æbleskiver are made of wheat flour, buttermilk, milk, cream, sugar and a little bit of salt. You eat them with jam and icing sugar with your afternoon tea or coffee.
Top left: Rice gruel with cinnamon sugar and butter,Top middle: Christmas duck, red cabbage, sweet potatoes, boiled white potatoes, Top right: 'Ris à l' amande', Bottom left: Danish doughnuts, Bottom right: A full christmas lunch
Birthday
When Danes are celebrating a birthday it is very common to make a cake of layers (lagkage) and wheat buns. A cake of layers is a cake that has three layers of sponge cake, pastry cream, fruit e.g. bananas and raspberries, whipped cream and chocolate icing. The traditions is first to eat wheat buns with butter or other topping such as cheese. Next you are eating your delicious cake and blowing out the candles. Both dishes are covered with birthday decoration, e.g. danish flags the number of how old the individual is etc.
A traditional birthday cake and wheat buns with danish flags
Shrovetide
Shrovetide also called Fastelavn in Danish is held in February, seven weeks before easter. It is sort of a nordic Halloween, but less gloomy. Children dress up in their costumes and go from door to door to ask for candy, shrovetide buns or money through a traditional Shrovetide song.In the two weeks before this Shrovetide and also during, it is possible to buy delicious Shrovetide buns in the different bakeries all over the country. There are many different types and it is also common that the Danes make them themselves.
Facts about Denmark
The last couple of years and also before, Denmark has been known as the country which has been titled the happiest in the world. There are many different explanations why, and one of the more intangible reasons are how Danes are able to create and value 'hygge'. It is difficult to explain exactly what the word means, but some words to explain it could be coziness, fun, comfortness, enjoyment and socialization. The use of this term is also very noticeable in the Danes food culture. A culture which will be explain in the following sections.Denmark is located in the northern Europe in Scandinavia. The country has a population of approx. 5.584.758 millions citizens, of which 126,4 individuals can be found per square kilometres. Amongst these citizens you can find the danish royal family, which belongs to one of the oldest monarchies in the world. However, it is not Queen Margarethe II who rules the country, but instead the danish government which consists of a coalition of The Social Democrats, The Social Liberals and The Socialist People's Party, who overall believes in equality for all human beings.
Denmark is not yet to be titled as a multicultural society, since the country consists of 4.996.980 Danes and 567.932 immigrants. The religions in the country is represented by 90 % protestant, and others are Islam, Catholics and Judaism.
Food in Denmark
The last couple of decades Denmark has in many ways been influenced by other countries such as America, Italy, France etc. This also concerns the Dane's food culture. However, there are still some food traditions in the country that are strongly incorporated in the culture and therefore haven't disappeared yet.Breakfast
The Danes, like many others, drink coffee and tea and eat a piece of bread with topping. This can both be wheat bread, but also rye bread which is especially popular amongst the Danes. Rye bread is actually so incorporated in a Dane's culture and mind that this is the first thing that a Dane is missing, when he or she is on vacation. It is also one of the main ingredients for another unique Danish breakfast - junket crumble (ymerdrys). The ingredients in junket crumble is grated rye bread and brown sugar. This is used to put on your junket, and is especially good if you are looking for a lighter breakfast. This fascination of eating rye bread or using it as an ingredient has been with the Danes for many centuries. An example is the Danish 'Oellebroed', which is made of rye bread, sugar and non-alcoholic beer. Unfortunately 'Oellebroed' is no longer one of the main dishes in Denmark, but it has actually been a common dish since the middle-age.Another thing to have during breakfast, which has become popular more recently, is wheat buns. These are either from the supermarket or homemade, and are most commonly eaten in the weekends or at celebrations like birthdays with different toppings.
Most recently the Danes has embraced the American brunch, but this is most enjoyed in restaurants and not at home. To sum up there has been some different traditions within breakfast in Denmark, but rye bread stays and lies deep in the Danes' mind about what they should eat.
Rye bread
Lunch
Different from breakfast and dinner, which is eaten at home, lunch is enjoyed by Danes elsewhere.Today Danes most often make their lunch themselves before going to work, but it is also seen that Danes eat in the canteen at their work where there are many things to choose from. Homemade lunch is best known as cold dishes and simple, and here rye bread again plays a big role. When Danes make lunch themselves it would most commonly consist of slices of rye bread with toppings such as sausages, egg or the popular liver paste. Liver paste is a mixture of pig-liver, lard and salt and pepper, which is baked and can be enjoyed on rye bread with sliced cucumbers or pickled beetroots.
Homemade lunch for work
In the weekends a similar dish for lunch is popular, but the difference is that this dish is more expanded. The dish is a traditional Danish open sandwich ('smørrebrød'), which most often includes rye bread but in some cases also wheat bread. Danes go to restaurants, when they want really good open sandwiches, and there they have the possibility to choose from multiple toppings for their open sandwiches. Examples of a traditional Danish open sandwich varies from winter to summer. During winter it is very popular to eat warm meet on your open rye bread sandwich, e.g. Danish meatballs which are a mixture of calf and pork or pork roast with crackling and red cabbage. During the summer it is more popular to eat fish on your open sandwich. This could e.g. be an open sandwich with wheat bread, salmon, salad, lemon, mayonnaise and prawns.
Tradtional Danish open sandwich (Smørrebrød)
A newest approach to 'Smørrebrød' is smushi. This is a concept that connects the idea of sushi and the traditional Danish open sandwich. Thereby Danish open sandwiches, become renewed and are now more modern.
Smushi - a modern approach to 'Smørrebrød'
Dinner
The Danes' dinner has very much been influenced by other countries, but also by the changes in the society the last century. Before the 1960's dinner was something that was important, it was the meal that gathered the family after a long working day and therefore a lot of energy was used on this meal. This was possible since most women didn't work, and therefore had time to prepare a nice meal. Dinner before was therefore often two courses. This could e.g. be soup as a starter and afterwards meat, potatoes, boiled vegetables and gravy. During weekends it could even be three, since dessert was included as well. The most common meat to eat in Denmark was pork, since there was a lot of pig farms in Denmark and this therefore was easy to get.Today dinner is more simple, which means that most Danes only eat one course both in the working days and in the weekends. However, it is very common that you eat nicer food in the weekends and enjoy a good movie with candy afterwards. Furthermore our food traditions has changed, since we embraced the American food culture in the 1960s, the Italian food culture in the 1980s and the Asiatic food culture in the 1990s. This means that the Danes are eating many different dishes today, and do not have a real Danish food culture regarding dinner as they do with lunch. However, today pork is still the most common meat that is eaten in Denmark, and traditional potato and gravy dishes are also still very common as sides for your meat. The most typical danish dishes would be pork roast with crackling or danish meatballs with white boiled potatoes, red cabbage and gravy. Today danes value dinner very much as a time in the day, where the family can be gathered and you talk with each other to hear how their day has been. It is therefore also not common for families to sit in front of the TV when they are eating. The core elements of danish dinner are thereby that dinner is social and cozy, the word that the danes translate to 'hyggeligt'.
Typical Danish dinner: pork roast with potatoes, red cabbage and gravy
Street foods
Of course fast-food is popular in Denmark as in other countries, and the most known fast-food places are McDonald's, KFC, Burger Kind and Sunset Boulevard. However, something that is really popular in Denmark and which can only be found on the streets are the trailers that sell a delicious variety of hot dogs. They can be found all over Denmark and often several places in the cities although there are many competitors. The most popular hot dog is 'a toasted hot dog with everything', ie. a fried or boiled pork sausage, a toasted open bread, ketchup, remoulade, mustard, pickles and roasted onions. Next is the french hot dog, i.e. a fried pork sausage in a more closed bread and a chosen sauce e.g. ketchup, mustard, remoulade or the popular french hot dog sauce. This kind of food is both enjoyed during the day and after a night out.Left: A french hot dog, Middle: A typical hot dog stand, Right: A toasted hot dog with everything
Regional influences
The Danish food culture has not had many regional influences. However, before there was a difference in the country from the Danes living in the cities to the Danes living in the countryside. This was to eat warm dishes for lunch and cold dishes for dinner. That is also why dinner is danish is called middag. This word means midday, and was used since warm meals used to be eaten in the middle of the day. However, today the way of doing things in the cities has influenced the individuals from the countryside, and therefore it is more common to eat cold meals for lunch and warm meals for dinner. Lastly it is worth mentioning that the danish food culture has been influenced by that Denmark was previously an agricultural country. Today Denmark is an industrial country.Festivities
Christmas
The Danish christmas traditions regarding food can vary from Dane to Dane, and Danes might not eat it on the same dates. However, the tradition for all Danes is that you both celebrate christmas before, during and after christmas eve.To be more exact, Danes celebrate little christmas eve the 23 December. This is not common for every dane, but the ones that do have a tradition of eating rice gruel with cinnamon sugar and butter. This is supposedly what Santa is eating, and therefore it is also normal to leave a plate for Santa outside your door for when he comes with the presents. Furthermore it is very practical to eat rice gruel on the 23 december, because it is used for the dessert on christmas eve. A big portion is therefore always made.
Christmas eve is on the 24 december. This night is the most important one, and this is where Danes eat the danish christmas dinner, dance around the decorated christmas tree and open their presents. The traditional christmas dinner is roast pork, boiled potatoes, sweet potatoes, red cabbage and gravy, but now roast duck or goose are also popular. For dessert the Danes eat the classic 'Ris à l'amande', which is cold rice gruel, whipped cream, vanilla, chopped almonds and hot cherry sauce. A game belongs to this dish. That is that you hide one whole almond in the dessert, and the one that gets this also gets a present.
Christmas lunches are very popular in Denmark, and these can both occur before and after christmas eve. This event includes a great table with food from one end to the other. During a christmas lunch you can find everything from fish to warm dishes to desserts. One person can attend several christmas lunches in November, December and January. It is a way to extend christmas and to wish a merry christmas to your friends, colleagues and family.
Another dish which is really popular to eat during December is the Danish doughnuts (æbleskiver). Æbleskiver are made of wheat flour, buttermilk, milk, cream, sugar and a little bit of salt. You eat them with jam and icing sugar with your afternoon tea or coffee.
Top left: Rice gruel with cinnamon sugar and butter, Top middle: Christmas duck, red cabbage, sweet potatoes, boiled white potatoes, Top right: 'Ris à l' amande', Bottom left: Danish doughnuts, Bottom right: A full christmas lunch
Birthday
When Danes are celebrating a birthday it is very common to make a cake of layers (lagkage) and wheat buns. A cake of layers is a cake that has three layers of sponge cake, pastry cream, fruit e.g. bananas and raspberries, whipped cream and chocolate icing. The traditions is first to eat wheat buns with butter or other topping such as cheese. Next you are eating your delicious cake and blowing out the candles. Both dishes are covered with birthday decoration, e.g. danish flags the number of how old the individual is etc.A traditional birthday cake and wheat buns with danish flags
Shrovetide
Shrovetide also called Fastelavn in Danish is held in February, seven weeks before easter. It is sort of a nordic Halloween, but less gloomy. Children dress up in their costumes and go from door to door to ask for candy, shrovetide buns or money through a traditional Shrovetide song.In the two weeks before this Shrovetide and also during, it is possible to buy delicious Shrovetide buns in the different bakeries all over the country. There are many different types and it is also common that the Danes make them themselves.Shrovetide buns